a healing touch
by calicat
Summary: a semi-serious emotional story about a young mutant. i put this up about a year ago, but never finished, this is the revised version and it will get finished.


Disclaimer:  I don't own any of the X-men, so don't sue, Tannsi however is my own creation.

Summery: a semi-serious emotional story about one girl trying to be accepted for what she is. 

**A Healing Touch: prologue**

By Danielle Lampp

          A young girl of sixteen emerged from the dark farmhouse; she quietly made her way down the front steps. Wearing a long, dark, hooded cloak that masked her features and allowing her to slip into the darkness of the mountains around her, she made her way down the trail to the large barn. 

Stepping inside, she set down her pack and headed towards the stalls, curious nickers met her ears as one by one the horses greeted her. Slowly, she made her way down the aisle and pressed a gloved hand to each of them. She stopped in front of a stall that held a large black stallion, without hesitation she entered and wrapped her arms around his large neck. He nuzzled her gently and breathed into her hair, finally the girl pulled back, tears filled her eyes as she looked at the trophy case hanging opposite his stall. There hung a picture of herself and the stallion together, with a blue ribbon and a trophy. Underneath, engraved on a bronze plate was written "Tannsi and Dark Star, 4-H state Champion". Almost fearfully, she kissed the end of Dark Star's nose, wrapped her cloak around her and turned to leave. The giant stallion tried to follow, but Tannsi blocked his way.

"I am sorry Star, but I can't take you with me, you will be safer and happier here in your warm stall. I love you, old boy." 

And with that she turned and fled. Racing up the side of the mountain and well into the forest, until the first light of day began to make its way down the edge of the hillside. Tannsi found a small cave hidden beside the stream she had been following and threw herself down upon the sandy floor, crying her heart out until exhaustion finally took over and she fell into a fitful sleep. Her dreams brought her no relief, and she woke up screaming, the memories she had tried so hard to forget filling her head…

_**It had only been two days ago; she had been in her favorite part of the forest, a small valley with a narrow, clear stream, and a few large oak trees. She had been sitting there, watching a pair of robins build their nest when the headache hit. Her sight went blurry and her ears buzzed with an annoying sound. It only lasted about a minute, then the pain was gone, but it left Tannsi with a heightened sense of smell, hearing and sight. And it wasn't the first time this happened, for the last few months it had occurred off and on, and every time, her senses got more sensitive to everything around her. Tannsi pulled herself to her feet and headed home, thinking a nice hot shower might help the slight disorientation._

_            As she made her way towards home, she came across a small kitten lying unmoving on the ground. Hesitantly she reached down and picked it up; upon closer inspection she discovered that it was a female red tabby, an unusual color of dark red with thin black stripes. The kitten was skin and bones and barely breathing; Tannsi hurried towards home, she had cared for sick and injured creatures before and could not leave this one here alone. She had barely topped the first rise when instinctively she knew the kitten would not make it all the way home, unexplainable grief filled her and something told her that this kitten had to live, she cuddled the tiny thing carefully, noticing that she might as well be made of only skin and bones. Tannsi was silently begging the poor thing to get better, when all of a sudden something inside her mind snapped. Her hands began to glow a soft blue and Tannsi felt her life force empting out into the small cat who began to move, struggling against her. Tannsi felt everything wrong with the cat heal until it was back to full health, the flow of Tannsi's life force did not ebb until the cats body was full to bursting with life. Then it rushed back into Tannsi, overwhelming her senses and she blacked out._

_            When Tannsi woke it was nearly sundown, she had been there all evening. She struggled for a moment to get her limbs working and not crush the small, now healthy ball of fur sleeping next to her. But when she finally got her hands out in front of her to push herself off the ground, she froze. Her hands had changed, the once short round nails were now long and pointed, her healthy summer tan had turned to snowy white offset by thin stripes of deep red and black. Panicked she grabbed the kitten and ran for home, sneaking in and up to her bathroom before anyone knew she was home. Setting the cat on the bathroom floor she quickly stripped her clothing and turned to face the full sized mirror. A broken sob escaped her, she had changed completely, her auburn hair had grown darker and a deeper red, and was now streaked with white and black. Her entire body had turned white with one-inch red and black stripes coming from the dark line down her spine and wrapping around her sides leaving her belly and inner thighs pure white. Her face was striped as well, small stripes coming from her hairline and around her eyes. Her eyes had changed from deep green to ice blue and the pupils were silted; her ears had become pointed and were slightly higher, it unnerved her to see them move back and forth just like a cats. She was sporting a nice set of fangs and hanging nearly to her ankles was a furry tail. In fact, her entire body was covered in a short, soft pelt, though it was hardly more than peach fuzz on her face, palms, and bottoms of her feet. She was a mutant, her life would never be normal again. She decided then and there that she had to leave, her father hated mutants and her mother was scared of all they could do. Not wanting to disappoint them, or see their reaction, she quietly packed her stuff and left after her parents and older brothers went to bed.**_

            Tannsi cried as she sat in her cave, she new she would probably never see her family again, or her beloved Dark Star, she would spend the rest of her life totally alone. Then a small sound came from the mouth of the cave, startling Tannsi out of her grief, there stood the small red kitten that so radically changed her life. Mewing quietly it walked up to her and climbed in her lap, Tannsi felt the first stirring of hope, and maybe she would not be alone after all. She picked up the kitten and headed out of the cave.

            For the next few weeks, Tannsi dodged the search parties and moved farther east past Utah and into the deserted mountains of Wyoming, there she found a large cave and a beautiful clear lake. This would be her new home, she could be happy here. 

So what do you all think? Please review, if you don't I might not finish. 


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